The Lord of Song
by Araushnee
Summary: Post OC fic about favoured soul Mliss, and her experiences at the Knight Captain's Crossroad Academy. Chapter 3 is up, in which the students and some of the tutors are introduced.
1. The Secret Chord

This is my first attempted fanfic, I'd really appreciate feedback to help me improve! :)

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the material herein, except Mliss and, perhaps, her mysterious patron. The lyrics are from the song/poem 'Hallelujah', by Leonard Cohen.

**The Secret Chord**

_Now I've heard there was a secret chord  
That David played, and it pleased the Lord  
But you don't really care for music, do you?  
It goes like this  
The fourth, the fifth  
The minor fall, the major lift  
The baffled king composing Hallelujah_

Being favoured by a deity is a particular thing. In some ways Mliss felt somewhat put upon; she didn't ask to be so singled out, and now she felt as though she was expected to do something spectacular with her life. Something that would require a great deal of application and hard work. Mliss was, after all, rather hedonistic and indolent, so did not like hard work – she was a creature of comfort, far too laid back and self indulgent to be a hero. On the other hand, she had no idea which god or goddess had so favoured her, and she couldn't help but feel rather curious about the whole thing.

That happy notion was promptly quashed when she received and anonymous, but rather firm, vision one night, bidding her travel from her comfy Tethyrian home, far to the west, to the sword coast and a place called Crossroads Academy. Apparently she was supposed to learn how to be an adventurer.

In principle, Mliss welcomed this idea; she enjoyed adventure, excitement and danger, but she had no interest in deluding herself – she always liked to be able to come home to a warm bath, a soft bed and fine vittles. This journey would take a long time, and she had no idea what would be waiting for her at the end of it, or when she would come back.

She made a living here as a guide across the sands and as an interpreter, and the occasional skirmish in the desert coupled with her uncanny knack with people earned her a good reputation. This provided enough gold for her to live a suitably indulgent life, but when one's deity calls…

xxx

Being, as she was, terribly absent minded, and a prolific procrastinator, Mliss' preparations for her journey were somewhat… haphazard. After three months of preparations, selling off all of her treasured belongings, she decided to pay a visit to Cadderly Bonaduce at the Spirit Soaring.

Mliss' link with her sponsor was similar to that of Cadderly's; Mliss' power seemed to come to her through a song, and her spells always seemed to others to be like powerful music. A defensive spell was harmonic, like a cantata or aria, whereas an offensive spell was more like a _Dies Irae_, healing spells were like a dirge.

Perhaps it was their similar link to the divine, or perhaps Mliss worked her womanly wiles upon the cleric, but he agreed to windwalk her to her destination.

So it was that on the afternoon of the first of Eleint, DR1377, Mliss looked upon her new home for the first time. Cadderly had deposited her about a mile from the Academy, at the end of a long straight road paved with alabaster and lined with Cherry Blossom trees. As the warm wind blew it collected some of the pink blossoms from the laden boughs and carried them in swirls and eddies into the distance. As Mliss made her way towards the structure on the horizon, she was surprised by how very green the land seemed; the road was surrounded by lush pastures, all set aside to fallow. This country was undeniably a feast for the eyes.

Crossroads Academy was impressive. Not quite as impressive as the majestic _Spirit Soaring_ of Cadderly's, but it had a certain _je ne sais qua._ It was clearly built to be a fortress; the walls were thick enough for several people to stand abreast on. To one side of the gate was a beautiful wizard's tower, and beyond could be seen the Keep itself, with clear influences from Illefarn and Imaskar in its architecture. The brick was all different colours, and each corner of the keep had a twisting spire, each different to the last.

And in the centre was a great crystalline spire, over the top of which hung, suspended by powerful magic, a great tear-shaped boulder, about the size of the wizard's tower itself. It glistened white like raw mithril in the last of the day's sun, but as Mliss drew closer, and the sun fell down behind the hills, the tear began to glow like the moon.

As Mliss finally approached the gates, casting a wary glance at the magnificently armoured guards to either side, the enormous doors creaked open, framing the figure of a heavily pregnant woman in a beautifully embroidered gown.

"I have been waiting for you, Mliss, Chosen One," said the Knight Captain.


	2. First Impressions

**First Impressions**

Mliss hated it when people she had never met knew who she was. It had happened only once before, and that was because she had been wearing a nametag, but still…

Apparently, her scowl got the message across, as the Knight Captain seemed to realise that her dramatic entrance (though really she had been _leaving_ the keep…) had not gone over well. "Er, yes, well, I had heard that you were coming…" the pregnant woman began.

"So, seeing as you're in the know, why am I here?" Mliss asked belligerently.

"Well, I assumed you wanted to join the Academy…"

"Yes, yes, but _why_ am I here? Who told you I was coming? Who told me I was coming?"

The Knight Captain began to shift nervously. "Cadderly contacted me… he told me to expect you…"

"Oh." Mliss felt insane. "I just… it's been a long journey…" she began to explain.

The Knight Captain glanced conspicuously up the road to the point at which Mliss had materialised. "Er, of course. I have a room prepared for you…" she began to gesture Mliss through the gates in the manner one might assume when around a particularly ancient and infirm relative.

A pair of wide, fiery eyes watched their progress up the hill to the Keep.

"Kight Captain!" exclaimed a Kara-Turian woman, sinking into a ridiculously low bow.

"I was only gone ten minutes, Kana," sighed the Knight Captain, with the world-weary air of someone who had suffered in silence for a long, long time.

The Knight Captain lead Mliss through a side door, Kana turned in her bow giving the Knight Captain a lingering view of her parting. Up the stairs they went, past a landing and onto the third floor.

"Your room is here, on the right – number nine. Dinner will be served in an hour, just head downstairs and ask a greycloak for directions. There's a washroom through that door to the left, just stoke the fire under the bath to heat it. You know the spell to create water, right? Good. Candles are in the second drawer down, call a maid if you need anything."

The Knight Captain left at a pace, and Mliss paused to consider her surroundings. _En suite… not bad_, she thought.

xxx

Mliss spent the next hour grooming. She bathed, washed her lustrous black hair, filed her immaculate nails, cleansed and moisturised her clear creamy skin, and was sitting in her fluffy bath robe, drying her hair in front of the fire when she though she saw a fiery eye looking at her through the keyhole. She blinked and it was gone, but all the same, she glanced nervously around the room and went into the bathroom to change.

Hair brushed, lips rouged, dressed and ready for dinner, she headed for the door, head held high.

Ten minutes later she was beginning to panic. She should have found the stairs a long time ago, and now she was walking down a very strange corridor that seemed to project impossibly out of the side of the Keep.

"You don't want to go down there," came a male voice, smooth and confident, but strangely accented. "Leads to another plane."

"Oh," Mliss squinted into the gloom in the direction of the voice. As a figure stepped forward she could make out white hair and a gleaming, condescending grin. A closer look revealed glowing blood red eyes and obsidian skin.

Mliss yelped and jumped backwards, silently cursing herself for her lack of composure. She had never seen a drow before, and had never really wanted that to change. _Still, as far as last looks go_,she thought,_ I could do a lot worse._ The black elf was undeniably handsome, and would be even more so if only he would wipe the snide grin off his face. What's more, this drow wasn't killing her. _It gets better,_ she thought.

"Lost, are we, little surfacer?" His eyes took on a distinctly predatory gleam, and Mliss had the creeping feeling that he had been watching as she took the wrong turnings, undoubtedly for the opportunity to… well, Mliss wasn't sure what, but it couldn't be good.

Panic mingled with anger at his condescending tone, and Mliss snapped "I just arrived, so shove the taunts and show me the way to the stairs!"

"As you wish, jabbress," he smirked.

Mliss didn't know what 'jabbress' meant, but it sounded rather insulting. But she followed as the drow lead her back the way she came, through twisting corridors and finally down a long spiralling staircase. She knew it wasn't the way she had come up, but she didn't know how far from that place she had wandered, perhaps this was a short cut?

Mliss reached the bottom to find that her drow escort had disappeared, and she was in a large, empty, and very creepy hallway, alone. As she moved forwards her steps echoed loudly around the room, making her feel extremely exposed. Attempting to muffle her movements, she turned a corner, and shrieked.

There, about a foot from her face, was the biggest, most hideous spider she had ever seen. Eight clusters of eyes shone in the gloom, and great hairy mandibles clicked threateningly, bits of its latest victim flying as it chittered. Mliss shrieked again, and turned to flee, but was beaten to it by the enormous arachnid.

Apparently her screams had frightened it, and it spun her round as it bolted for the door in its haste to leave.

Mliss ran in the opposite direction, through a small door, straight into something far worse than any arachnid. Great leathery wings of darkness furled around a huge beast-headed devil. Great horns curled around its fiery maw, and a whip of flame hung at its side. Malevolence rolled off it in waves, nauseating Mliss; turning her knees to jelly.

From the darkness of the room stepped another figure. Mliss whimpered. Fierce eyes, and glowing tattoos; a deep gravely voice boomed "students are not permitted here except for lessons."

"This cowardly prime is a student?" asked the Pit Fiend.

"I-I'm n-n-not a coward!" Mliss managed. "I've never seen a… you before. Or a giant spider," she shuddered reproachfully at the door. "A drow lead me down here."

"I do so like the drow," the pit fiend boomed. "Especially Vhaeraunites, they really know how to throw a party."

"How'd you like a drow toy boy?" asked Mliss hopefully.

The pit fiend tapped a claw on its chin, thoughfully. "Mmm, what do you propose, mortal?"

"No!" grizzled Ammon Jerro. "Deals with devils are not covered 'til your final year. I'll show you to the dining hall."

Mliss and the pit fiend looked crestfallen, but Mliss wouldn't pass up the chance to get out of there.

xxx

The dining hall was composed of three long wooden tables with benches. The hall was mostly empty, with only about eight people there in total.

Mliss chose a seat at the opposite side of the hall from the drow traitor, but summoned her indignation and glared daggers at him.

He smirked at her.

Fuming, she turned to whoever was sitting next to her, and instinctively recoiled. _Was no one in this gods damned place normal?_

Mliss' green eyes met a pair of familiar fiery eyes. A tail flicked excitedly at Mliss' ankles, and a pair of horns topped a rather seductive face, framed by a pair of large bat wings.

"Hi!" chirped her companion. "I'm Shar'ri! Well, that's not really my real name, but you know…" she babbled. "What are you in for?" She winked.

"In for? I… I'm just here to, you know, uh…" Mliss trailed off, lamely.

"Don't worry, I know just what you mean!"

"You do?" Mliss didn't even know what she meant.

"Sure," Shar'ri replied happily. "I can't really do anything either! I don't know why they let me in, but hey! I'm not going to complain."

"Right," said Mliss, deciding that the best way to deal with this surreal experience was to just go with it. "Do you know who _that_ is?" she gestured at the drow.

"A drow."

"Anything else?"

"From the Underdark?" Shar'ri shrugged helplessly. "I think I heard his name was Sheath Sinay, or something."

"_Shaiith Ssinaeth_," said a passing voice, helpfully.

"Yeah, Sheath Sinay," said Shar'ri.

"Sh-eye-eeth Tsin-aythe," enunciated the voice.

Mliss regarded the speaker. He was normal. She smiled. "And you are?"

Clearly dazzled by her smile, the speaker replied dozily "Sebastian LaMonde." He ruffled his dark brown hair nervously. "To whom do I have the pleasure of introducing myself?"

Shar'ri rolled her eyes.

"Mliss," she shook his hand, daintily.

"May I join you, Mliss?"

"Certainly you may," she beamed. "Shar'ri and I were just discussing what we hope to learn here."

"Ah, well I am blessed with a talent for bardic magic, so I hope to improve my powers here. I had heard that there was a famous bard living here called Scalesinger…"

"Deekin?" put in Shar'ri. "Yeah, he's here. Don't ask for a demonstration. He runs a shop along with that drow woman."

"_Another_ drow?!" exclaimed Mliss. "One is quite enough! Why are there so many drow here? And giant spiders? And what's with the maniac summoning demons in the basement?!"

"Giant spiders?" Shar'ri frowned. "I hate spiders…"

"They're devils," added Sebastian.

"Damn right," muttered Shar'ri.

"No, the pit fiends that Ammon Jerro summons – they're devils, not demons."

"Whatever."

"Ah, trouble in paradise?" A smooth, oddly accented voice cut in.

Mliss snarled. "Shove off Ssinaeth."

Shaiith smiled, in a self-satisfied kind of way. "Why, jalil, I'm dreadfully hurt, and after all I've done for you…"

Growling, Mliss aimed a cream cake at his head.

"A cream cake? I expected at least a spoon…" he ducked a chicken leg. "And I don't even know your name…" An empty goblet caught him on the forehead, and he wandered off with a dazed look on his face.

"Damn drow!" Mliss swore.

"You got 'im though! Nice shot…" Shar'ri seemed mildly impressed.

"Right between the eyes," added Sebastian.

"By the way, how did you know that tattooed guy was called Ammon Jerro?" asked Mliss.

"Who else could it be?" At Mliss' confused expression, Sebastian elaborated, "You must've read the Memoirs?_"_

"Memoirs?" Mliss looked to Shar'ri who shrugged helplessly.

"'My Secret Life', volumes one and two." Sebastian went on. "The Memoirs of the Knight Captain. How else would you know about this place?"

"I kind of… had a dream about it…" Mliss tried not to sound insane, looking inquiringly at Shar'ri, to take the focus off herself.

"Some blue guy came to my brothel in Sigil and told me about it," explained Shar'ri.

"Blue guy?" said Mliss.

"Brothel?" said Sebastian.

"Yeah, a blue guy called Dan, or something. And yes, I used to work in a brothel. I was the highest paid, you know?"

"How old are you?" Mliss asked.

"Seventeen," shrugged Shar'ri. "That's not so young, for fiends…"

"Fiends are eternal," argued Sebastian.

"Yeah, but they mature quickly, you know?"

Their conversation was halted by the arrival of the Knight Captain's belly. Then the rest of her.

"Dear students," she began. "Most of you read about this place in my memoirs, but for those of you who didn't,' she glanced at Mliss and Shar'ri, then at Shaiith, "a few introductions are in order.

"My name is Lyria the Wolf; I am the Knight Captain and Headmistress of Crossroads Academy, formerly Crossroads Keep. I returned from Rasheman recently, with the help of my new friend Cadderly Bonaduce." She sent a ghost of a smile at Mliss. "With the threat of war ended, I felt this Keep, and my not too modest fortune, could be put to better use than serving as a glorified Inn on the road to Neverwinter."

There was a gruff 'hear hear' noise from somewhere behind the Headmistress.

"There were many times during my adventures that I would have benefited from greater experience, or preparation for the adventuring life. It is with that aim in mind; preparing young people for the world that awaits them outside, that I have established Crossroads Academy.

"Tomorrow I will introduce you to the instructors, but tonight there will be a social night in the Phoenix Tail Inn. Ask one of the kids you see around if you don't know the way.

"For now, bon appetit, and I'll see you all later."

Silence trailed in her wake, but gradually people resumed their conversations, and their meals.

There was roast duck, chicken, pheasant and venison, along with assorted vegetables and roast potatoes. For desert there were the cream cakes Mliss had hurled at Shaiith, along with mini cheesecakes and a platter of cheese and fruit.

"So," Shar'ri addressed Sebastian. "You know who knocked up the Cap'n?"

Sebastian choked on his cheesecake. "Well… she didn't exactly write that in the memoirs, but I'd put money on Bishop – you know, the Traitor of Neverwinter."

Shar'ri shook her head. "I don't know anyone except that blue guy. I kinda thought it might be him. Why would she sleep with a traitor?"

"Well he wasn't always a traitor…"

Mliss fazed out of their conversation. Despite having had several years taken off her life by chance meetings with various monsters, this trip hadn't turned out so bad. Her room was beautiful, and had all the comforts of home. Well, almost all, and she had to admit to herself that she was curious about this whole 'school' idea. She had even made a couple of friends, and Sebastian wasn't bad looking…

All in all, she was rather excited.


	3. Many Meetings

**Many Meetings**

Crossroad Academy's moon glowed softly above the Keep; Lyria's Tear, as it was known hereabouts, outshone the fainter stars, leaving only the brightest visible in the night. Swirls of silver smoke spiralled out of the chimneys of the houses around the keep, their curling patterns strangely luminous against the darkling sky. The warm breeze carried the smell of barbequing pork and the talk and music and laughter of the tavern.

Making her way down the slope to the inn, Mliss felt sorry she had already eaten, as another waft of sizzling bacon assaulted her nostrils. The inn was brightly lit by forces unknown, and in the corner a trio of musicians played merrily, as a number of the locals danced around a table.

The Knight Captain, or Headmistress, as she was now known, was leaning against the bar, chatting animatedly to the balding barkeep. When she saw the students start to arrive she straightened up, and motioned towards an empty corner littered with chairs and sofas. Mliss, Shar'ri and Sebastian flopped down on a squashy three-seater, as the Headmistress slouched in an armchair. Gradually the others filtered down, each finding somewhere to place themselves; Shaiith perched provocatively on the arm of the Headmistress' chair. She pushed him off, and he sat where he landed on the floor.

"Well," Lyria began, pausing to thank Sal as he deposited a round of beers for the students and an orange juice for her. "I've introduced myself, so now why don't you all tell each other a bit more about yourselves?" She looked enquiringly at a ginger haired girl sat on a wooden stool.

"My name's Anita," she said. "I'm from Waterdeep. My parents read your book and decided to send me here."

"And would you thank your parents again for their very generous donation, Anita?" smiled Lyria. "But you haven't told us what your talent is."

Shar'ri shifted nervously in her seat. Anita blinked, and then said "I'm a sorceress."

"Please tell me you don't worship Kossuth?" Lyria said, pleadingly.

"N-No, I worship Waukeen."

_Merchant's daughter,_ Mliss heard someone whisper.

Lyria turned in the direction of the commentator, and said "And yourself?"

"My name's Devin," a small dirty looking boy spoke. "I guess I'm a shifter, and I worship Selûne."

"And where are you from, Devin?" inquired Lyria.

Devin glanced at his feet for a moment, before answering in a small voice, "Luskan."

A general hiss of anger and ill will rippled around their little circle, and Shar'ri asked "what's so bad about that?" Everyone stared at her. "What? I'm not from around here!"

The Knight Captain chuckled lightly at this statement of the blatantly obvious – with her horns, tail and great leathery bat wings, it would be difficult to mistake Shar'ri for a local. "Relations between Luskan and Neverwinter are strained, at best; and not so long ago there was a war between the two cities," Lyria explained.

"Oh," said Shar'ri, before hissing something to Sebastian in a scandalised tone.

"And you are?" Lyria asked the fiend.

"I'm Shar'ri, though that's not my real name, you know? I'm from Sigil, most recently. Though no one really belongs there. Except people like me, y'know? People who don't belong anywhere belong there…"

"So where are you from originally?" asked another student, eying her suspiciously.

"Err, well… I suppose I was born in Baator…"

"The Nine Hells?" asked Anita. "Which one?"

"That's not really…" Shar'ri was interrupted by Shaiith.

"Nessus," he revealed. "Her father is Asmodeus, King of the Devils." A massive intake of breath gratified Shaiith for his intrigue.

"_How did he know that?!_" whispered Shar'ri to anyone who was listening.

"Well, he is a drow…" Sebastian began, "probably summoned something from the lower planes and asked it."

"I accepted Shar'ri into the academy personally," said the Headmistress, with an air of finality, her silencing gaze sweeping the students.

"So," she turned to the drow, "who might you be?"

"Shaiith Ssinaeth," said the drow confidently. "I have come from the underground city of Sshamath. My skills are in diplomacy and persuasion," he finished with a small smile which had a strange effect on the female presence in their group; excepting Mliss, Shar'ri and the Knight Captain, who looked hard at Shaiith for a moment, before turning to the next in line.

"Shantah Salaereon," said a dark haired elf girl. "I can talk to spirits… I come from Silverymoon." A murmur of interest went around at this declaration, but the elf girl disregarded them, and turned to Shaiith with an air of open dislike. "Why do you call yourself Nameless Addiction?" she asked him.

There was silence. To Mliss' lasting satisfaction, Shaiith looked extremely uncomfortable for a moment, before recovering his poise. "It is a name given to me by my former mistress," he offered with a shrug and a roguish smile. "I shall let you guess why."

Rolling her eyes slightly, Lyria gestured for the next in line, a blond human boy, to say his bit.

"Dante Calverley of Athkatla, Sorcerer," he said. "The Athkatla Cowled Wizards don't care too much for individuals like myself – I can't always control my magic, and my father can't afford the magic license fees, so I came here…" He trailed off, looking to Sebastian to take over.

"Sebastian LaMonde of Baldur's Gate, Bard," he said. Lyria smiled and nodded, looking to the next girl.

"Raisa Nekrasov, of Port Llast; Warlock," explained a chestnut haired girl, to a chorus of conspiratorial whispers, that were swiftly silenced by the Headmistress as she looked to Mliss, the final student.

"I'm Mliss," she began. "I don't have a second name, but I come from Darromar in Tethyr. I'm a favoured soul."

Again, the murmuring broke out, and was interrupted, this time by Shaiith. "Yours is a soul favoured by whom, jallil?"

Mliss glanced at Lyria nervously. Taking the hint, Lyria intervened; "That is not your business, Shaiith. Now that we have all traded introductions, you can all return to the Keep. Breakfast tomorrow is at seven thirty; gather in the atrium at eight. Goodnight."

Mliss leapt up and headed for the door, followed by Shar'ri and, after a wistful glance at the bards playing in the corner, Sebastian.

"That little berk," said Shar'ri. "I can't believe him!"

"Why is he even here?" Mliss joined in. "As if a drow would want to learn anything from a surfacer, he's probably here to spy on us all for some ghastly drow invasion party."

"He'll probably poison us all or kill the captain in her sleep," Shar'ri agreed.

"I can't believe she let him in here!" Mliss ranted. "He probably wants to steal her baby when it's born and drink its blood!"

"Or sacrifice it to Lloth or whoever! And wear its sinew on his hand like a glove!"

"Like a glove?" Sebastian asked incredulously.

"Yeah, it's a lower planes thing; there was this Marilith-"

"Don't you think you're getting carried away?" interrupted Sebastian with a cautious glance at Shar'ri.

"Perhaps, but you never can tell with drow," she said, sagely.

Their banter had brought them to the top of the stairs by their rooms. "Well, I'm whacked," Mliss lied. "I'll see you guys tomorrow." She shut her door before her new friends could object, and flopped down on her bed to begin her longwinded beauty routine before bed.

An hour later, she opened her diary and diligently recorded her thoughts about recent events, threw a shoe at the keyhole when she saw a fiery eye peering through it, and poured herself a nightcap of damson gin before finally turning in.

xox

The world swirled around her, and for a moment there was only darkness. Gradually some objects took shape around her, like strange stage lighting, she could see a boulder, a tree, some rocks. She felt a sharp breeze; she was outside, but there was no sun, no moon, not a single star shone in the sky; there was just a yawning void above her, and an almost magical darkness below her, concealing her feet. There were no bird calls, no crickets, no sound of any other living creature, and Mliss felt as though she were witnessing the dawn of time.

Something drew her attention behind her, and she turned to see a tiny oval rock-like object. As she watched, it grew in size, and took on a speckledy hue; a bird's egg, she realised. When it had reached its full size, slightly bigger than a chicken's egg, it seemed to pause for a while, as if considering what to do next. Then it began to crack, and a small, white and bedraggled chick emerged.

The chick soon became fluffy, and began to grow, losing its white feathers and growing brown ones. When its body had reached three foot in length, sleek and powerful, the golden eagle stretched out its massive wings and flew to the boulder beside Mliss.

As the eagle looked her fiercely in the eye, she heard her own voice echo in her thoughts: _And this too shall fade away, _she said. As if on cue, the eagle became bedraggled again, its feathers falling out, it collapsed; dead and decomposing in seconds. Maggots writhed in its corpse until there was nothing left but bones, and then they too were gone.

When there was no trace left of the eagle, Mliss looked down at her feet; the darkness seemed to recede, and she saw that she was standing on nothing at all. The veil that was covering the world seemed to lift, and she saw mountains and forests and rivers around and below her. In the sky the sun shone and birds flew, but she began to fall away from them, leaving only her stomach behind.

Down and down she fell, never reaching the bottom, until she seemed to land in her bed with a knock at the door, dawn peeking between the curtains.

xox

The morning was grey, cold and damp. Mliss dressed warmly and made her way to the dining hall where waffles with a sweet caramely sauce were being served for breakfast. Mliss was torn between greed and concern for her figure. Greed won.

"Did you sleep well, jallil?" said an annoying voice behind her. If she noticed, she gave no sign, and Shaiith stalked off to the opposite end of the hall.

Breakfast concluded, and the students assembled in the atrium, as per the captain's request. Presently, she made an appearance, looking decidedly nauseous.

"Good Morning, everyone," she sounded tired. "Let me introduce you to your first instructor, Guyven." Lyria gestured to a halfling man who was smiling broadly. "Guyven and I ran into each other several times whilst I was in Neverwinter. We first met in a camp of Orcs; then again outside of a Githyanki hideout, and finally in the village of Ember – right after I had been accused of its massacre. Then Guyven came here and helped with the war effort."

Guyven bowed deeply. "He's had a great deal of experience adventuring, and he'll be teaching you the basics."

"Now, I will introduce you to your personal tutors. Anita, you will be tutored by Sand. Shantah, you will be taught by Gann." She gestured to a moon elf wizard and a blue skinned man, respectively. Shar'ri gasped when she saw Gann, and said "Gann! That was his name..." Gann shot her a quelling look, and Shar'ri said nothing further.

"Dante, you will be tutored by Safiya." Lyria went on, determinedly. A bald, tattooed, red-robed woman nodded to the boy.

"She– She's a red wizard!" he blurted.

"And a good friend of mine," Lyria nodded, and Dante had the grace to look ashamed of himself. "Sebastian, you will be taught by–"

"Deekin!" squeaked a raspy voice. Much to everyone else's amazement, Sebastian looked very pleased, and shook the kobold's scaly claw enthusiastically.

"Raisa, you will be tutored by Ammon Jerro," Lyria gestured to the bald, tattooed man Mliss had met in the basement the previous day. Raisa nodded, trembling slightly.

"Devin, your tutor will be Neeshka, except during the periods we discussed. Shaiith, I have a special tutor assigned for you, follow me upstairs in a moment." Shaiith looked very smug. "Shar'ri, please follow Ammon Jerro down to the basement, where he will introduce you to your tutor." Shar'ri glanced wide-eyed at Mliss, and nodded dumbly.

"Mliss, I have a series of tutors arranged for you, the first of which is Ivarr the Blessed, priest of Tyr." A robed dwarf nodded to Mliss, who smiled back charmingly. "Well, that's that, folks. All of you follow your respective tutor, for your introductions. Mid morning you will all be shown to Guyven's classroom. After lunch you'll meet some more of your teachers." Lyria waved them all away, and Mliss turned and followed Ivarr to the Church of Tyr.

"Lyria's told me you may require help figuring out from whom you get your powers?" Ivarr addressed her genially.

Mliss nodded happily; that was _precisely_ what she needed.


End file.
